Aug. 04, 2010 - Issue #772: The Outsiders

Provenance

The history of peanut butter

history, spread thin

As with many other foods, there are conflicting histories of peanut butter; who invented it and how it was produced. Africans were known to grind peanuts and herbs into stews from as early as the 15th century. The Chinese have been crushing peanuts into creamy sauces for centuries. Yet the origin of the peanut itself is not disputed. Peanuts came from South America, then found their way to Africa through Spanish explorers who conquered the southern continent.

The production of peanut butter, as we know it, seems to have developed simultaneously in Australia
and the United States around 1890. But even here, who developed what is hotly debated. In 1890, an unknown St Louis physician supposedly encouraged the owner of a food company, George A Bayle Jr, to process and package ground peanut paste as a nutritious protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn't chew meat. Around the same time, a doctor from Battle Creek, named John Harvey Kellogg, patented a process for creating a similar peanut paste as a protein source for vegetarians. Unfortunately, his product wasn't particularly tasty, so he and his brother turned their attention to making breakfast cereals.

Actually, it was an employee of Kellogg's who took the failed concept and ran with it. Joseph Lambert, made hand-operated peanut grinders to make peanut butter in 1896. Lambert ultimately created the Lambert Food Company. His company, by the way, is still making peanut butter and is the oldest company of its kind.

Peanut butter is one of the most-natural products. By law, it must be at least 90 percent peanuts. They are first roasted then cleaned before being ground. Salt, and sugar are the only other ingredients. Of course, stabilizers are now added to prevent the peanut oil from separating, and preservatives are added to commercially produced and sold products. V vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus